Premium
Remarkable increase of thermoelectric power factor using plasma treatment in layered InGaO 3 (ZnO) m thin films
Author(s) -
Seo Dong Kyu,
Kim Jun Hyeon,
Kim Jae Hyun,
Cho Hyung Koun
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.4990
Subject(s) - materials science , seebeck coefficient , crystallinity , thin film , thermoelectric effect , annealing (glass) , sputtering , plasma , analytical chemistry (journal) , electrical resistivity and conductivity , rf power amplifier , sapphire , argon , optoelectronics , superlattice , thermal conductivity , nanotechnology , metallurgy , composite material , chemistry , optics , electrical engineering , cmos , amplifier , laser , engineering , chromatography , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics , physics , organic chemistry
Thermoelectric (TE) InGaZnO thin films grown on sapphire substrates by sputtering were optimized using a radio‐frequency (RF) argon plasma treatment. The oxide thin films exhibited layered InGaO 3 (ZnO) 2 superlattices with excellent crystallinity by using ZnO buffer layers and a post‐annealing process at 900 °C. The plasma treatment under various RF powers induced excellent improvements in the electrical conductivity without structural changes. The carrier concentration was gradually increased as the RF power increased, and as a result, the TE power factor (PF) was significantly enhanced despite the reduced Seebeck coefficient. A maximum PF value was observed to be ~0.2×10 −5 at 500 K in the sample that was plasma treated at 150 W, where the carrier concentration was 4.9×10 19 cm −3 . Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.